Asian Stock Market: Nikkei 225, ASX 200 gain 2.0% on a sluggish day

• Asian equities stay indecisive as markets await Fed’s preferred inflation gauge.
• IMF suggests easy-money policies to BOJ, inflation likely to dent global growth in 2022.
• Wall Street closed in red but Apple share offered a good start to S&P 500 Futures.
• Russia-Ukraine story flashes mixed messages, Aussie data prints higher factory-gate inflation.

Asia-Pacific shares trade mixed during an inactive Friday as investors take a breather following the recent volatility due to the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) hawkish signals. The latest indecision of traders could also be linked to the cautious sentiment ahead of the US inflation data, as well as mixed concerns over the key risk catalysts.

That said, MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan treads water around the lowest levels since October 2020. However, Japan’s Nikkei 225 and Australia’s ASX 200 gain around 2.0% each.

Japanese investors cheer comments from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) officials suggesting the need for further easy money policies at the Bank of Japan (BOJ). Additionally, softer-than-expected and previous readings of the Tokyo Consumer Price Index (CPI) also favor Nikkei 225 to consolidate recent losses.

Australian markets seem to brace for the upcoming Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) meeting while tracking mildly bid US stock futures, as the ASX 200 gains aren’t suited to the upbeat Producer Price Index (PPI) data for the fourth quarter (Q4).

Elsewhere, stocks in China grind higher with gains in blue-chip companies whereas Hong Kong and New Zealand markets are down nearly 1.0%.

It should be observed that South Korean and Indian investors are paring the weekly losses while equities in Indonesia remain lackluster.

On a broader front, Wall Street closed in the red but Apple’s results favored stock futures to print mild gains afterward. That said, the US Treasury yields stay firmer by the press time with eyes on the Core PCE Price Index data for December, expected to rise from 4.7% to 4.8% YoY.

Read: US PCE Inflation Preview: Dollar rally has more legs to run